“It’s time! After eleven seasons of Idols‚ it’s time for me to say goodbye. What better way to bring this chapter to a close than a trip to New York and meeting American Idols judge Harry Connick Jr and being on his post-Idols show — ’Harry.’”

Without revealing his next step after his sudden resignation, Cliff told his fans to “watch this space“.

Earlier this year, Cliff was caught up in a web of controversies following a statement he made on Twitter. This affected his relationship with the organisers of Idols. Subsequently, M-Net announced in January that he had been fired from the show.

Cliff found himself in the middle of a heated debate concerning estate agent Penny Sparrow’s racists rant. He and had commented on her rant sating; “People really don’t understand free speech at all.”

As a result, there were criticisms and Idols judge Gareth Cliff was fired from the show. Dauntless, he took M-Net to court over the decision and won. He was reinstated‚ with M-Net ordered to pay costs.

After the whole drama died down, he later insisted that he held no grudges against Idols SA producers.

“There are great people‚ much greater than me‚ who suffered for our right to free expression‚ people like Nelson Mandela who’ve said let bygones be bygones. So who am I‚ just a little ant in this picture‚ to say anything different and especially to hold a grudge. So I say‚ let bygones be bygones‚” he said.

At least he had the pleasure of leaving the show on his own terms. All the best Cliff!